SEED: Eternity
by Creleuth
Summary: In the final battle between Setsuna F. Seiei and Ribbons Almark, a potent mix of careful coincidences results in a life-changing moment for the Innovator. He is now transported to C.E. 70, near the turning point of the Bloody Valentine War. The coming of the Innovator is nigh. S2 Setsuna. Based on LancelotQuanta's Its name is Gundam fanfic. Rated M for later content.
1. A Moment in Eternity

Hello mates! I've FINALLY gotten around to doing this 00 Fanfic of mine, cheers to LancelotQuanta's own 00 crossover for being the inspiration for this particular fic!

I'll be taking a few liberties with the Gundam 00 canon and changing the final match between Setsuna and Ribbons to suit the frame of the story, I'll try to do justice to the franchise though!

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Chapter 1:

**A Moment in Eternity**

_**Shadows of eternity,**_

_**A moment in flight.**_

_**What is the nature of man?**_

_**When shadows are light?**_

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_**Helpful stuff:**_

"_Thoughts"_

"Speech"

_**Author's helpful little notes and stuff**_

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_**Location: Dark side of the moon**_

_**Time: Unknown**_

They say space is a vast void, kilometer upon kilometer of vast nothingness just above our heads. Silent. Free of war and hate.

They lie.

Countless pieces of debris litter the battlefield of space, thousands of kilometers engulfed in war. Bright flashes of pink and red light up the dark side of the moon like a fireworks display, highlighting the battle of survival that is taking place, the final battle that will decide the future of humanity.

And the source of all this war, all this hate, Ribbons Almark; Innovator, creator of the fake GN Drives, and master of the A-LAWS, was staring at Setsuna F. Seiei, Gundam Meister, First Human Innovator.

Thus will the battle that will dictate the course of humanity's progress take place; in a place far away from the eyes of the world, lonely and isolated. To the victor goes Earth's past, present, and future; to the loser, the emptiness of space.

_**Setsuna's POV**_

I steady myself, the strange new quantum brainwaves in my mind allowing me to take in enormous amounts of information in an eye blink. My side screens show the status of 00 Raiser, all green. The entire frontal screen shows a reddish Mobile Suit, piloted by Ribbons Almark; a tiny portion of the screen being taken up by the face of the Innovator himself. My eyes narrow as I observe him; my heart starts beating faster as we both prepare for the inevitable clash.

"You saved my life, then you led me forward, and now you're playing God in front of me!?" I shout at him as I accelerate 00 Raiser towards his suit.

He smirks and responds, "No, I _am_ God."

The gap between our suits, the battle fated to be waged the moment I laid eyes on the 0 Gundam became ever shorter. I prepare my GN Sword as his suit prepared to fire at me.

"Do you want to rule humanity that badly!?" I ask. He fires at me and I dodge the massive beam. "Do you have no intention of living alongside us, of understanding us!?" I shout at the end.

Finally the gap has closed; I pulled back my sword for an overhead slash when he drew a beam saber and met my attack with his own, creating a deadlock between the two of us. Sparks flew from the conflicting blades, highlighting the images of two gods of war.

"If I do not, humanity will keep on fighting and will eventually be annihilated; it's the same as humans keeping animals in cages for their convenience" He responded in a condescending, superior voice. "I am their savior!"

I start at his proclamation, and then I respond, my eyes narrowing and my focus strengthening. "That ego distorts the world… I will destroy this revival you have created!" I declared, pushing him back with an almighty push from my Gundam. He recovers quickly and faces me again.

"Excellent conviction, Setsuna F. Seiei!" He exclaims.

I ignore him and prepare my Gundam. "Setsuna F. Seiei…"

He notices and smirks, "Ribbons Almark…"

"…00 Raiser…"

"…Reborns Gundam…"

"…Eliminating the Target!"

"…Eliminating the Target!"

_**Location: Ptolemaios II Main Deck**_

_**Time: 10 mins after initiation of battle**_

A beeping sound startled the crew of Celestial Being as they watched Setsuna fight that red mobile suit. Feldt immediately went back to her station and tried to find out what caused the beeping. Sumeragi and Billy tore their eyes away from the screen to question her when she looked up from her screens and said.

"Sumeragi-san! Something's wrong with the GN particles around the battlefield!"

Sumeragi snapped to action and glided over to Feldt and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. The particles from Setsuna and that mobile suit are behaving erratically, they seem to be combining together but I'm not sure." At that declaration Feldt bit her thumb, nervous over the fact that she couldn't figure out what might be harmful to Setsuna.

Billy then suddenly said to them, "Let me look at it." When the rest of the crew of the Ptolemaios looked at him in astonishment, he grew irritated and continued, "I designed that Gundam that boy is fighting! I can help!"

At that Sumeragi looked at Feldt and nodded her head. With some reluctance, Feldt then shifted her station so Billy could also look at the data flowing in from Veda. He nodded his head in thanks at her and started analyzing the behavior of the GN particles.

"Hmm… yes, that's different but then-"

They could only hope whatever is happening will not endanger Setsuna in any way.

_**Location: Dark side of the moon**_

_**Time: 20 mins after initiation of battle**_

Setsuna crashed into the asteroid beside them, quickly bringing his GN Saber in front of him to block the red beam that should've skewered him. He then brought up his other blade in an attempt to slice apart Ribbons, but the Innovade was quick to the uptake and promptly twisted his gundam to avoid the sword, disengaging from Setsuna in the process. Setsuna took the opportunity presented and took off from the asteroid, evading the blast from Ribbon's Buster Rifle. Switching his GN Sabres to Rifle mode, he began returning fire while flitting in and out of sight by using the scattered asteroids as cover. He managed to score several hits at his enemy, blackening the surface of the Innovade's gundam.

Ribbons, getting tired of the game, shifted to Cannon mode and proceeded to obliterate every asteroid that Setsuna hid behind, quickly shifting back to Gundam mode to block the 00, which had appeared from nowhere and attempted to bring his GN Sabre down on the Innovade. They both gritted their teeth and began an elaborate dance of death, flashes of red and green and pink coupled with the sparks emanating from GN particle contact the only visible evidence of their clashing. Setsuna thrust with one Sabre while firing the other in Rifle mode, Ribbons dodged the blade while using his shield to deflect the shot. Ribbons slashed with his own Sabre, Setsuna matched him with both blades. They clashed and disengaged again and again, using everything to try to get an advantage over the other. A piece of asteroid was launched at the 00, which responded by blasting it to pieces and using the ensuing smoke to flash up to the Reborns.

Inside his cockpit Ribbons was beginning to sweat, yet a pleased look was evident in his face, as he continued to fight Setsuna. "_This is what will decide the fate of the world! Innovator against Innovade, Aeolia's vision against his creation!_" Everything has led up to this moment, from the 0 Gundam to the GNX machines to A-Laws to this, this one beautiful moment frozen in time. When he wins he might create a memorial for Setsuna F. Seiei, Humanity's First Innovator, the child is worth at least that much.

Neither noticed the slowly increasing amounts of GN particles saturating the battlefield around them. 00 Raiser's overabundance of GN particles beginning to mix with the fake GN particles of the Ribbons Gundam and changing into a new, unknown particle.

_**Location: Ptolemaios II Main Deck**_

_**Time: 30 mins after initiation of battle**_

"What is this…?" Billy mumbled to himself, completely absorbed in his analysis as the battle continued to rage. "The light particles are combining in a peculiar way…it's almost as if… no, that can't be right…?"

Sumeragi and Feldt looked at Billy nervously, they have no idea what the frown on the scientist's face meant, and it was troubling them. Sumeragi asked the crew, "How long before Lockon and Allelujah get to Setsuna?"

Millenia looked back at her screen, saying, "Lockon reports that he's at least 30 minutes away from the 00 Raiser, Allelujah's last position is 40 minutes away Sumeragi-san."

Feldt looked at the main screen, anxiety clear on her face.

_"Setsuna, come back safely."_

_**Location: Dark side of the moon**_

_**Time: 50 mins after initiation of battle**_

Setsuna panted heavily, beads of sweat rolling down his face as he warily stared at Ribbons. The 00 was missing part of its left wing from a Cannon blast, some joints were beginning to dip into the yellow zone from the constant fighting and he had to abandon his right GN Sabre to save his arm. The Reborns Gundam was equally hurt, the pristine paint it sported was scored and pitted from exchanges with the GN Rifle, its shield was cast aside after a desperate strike by Setsuna had cleaved the wrist of the arm holding it.

Setsuna then hefted his remaining Sabre, holding it in two hands. Ribbons responded by drawing his own beam sabre in challenge. He threw his Gundam into flight and dashed straight up to his enemy, Sabre held at chest-height in a classic thrust attack. His opponent charged at him as well, his own sabre brought low in a counter stance. At the last moment both had switched their attack patterns, Setsuna strafing left and swinging his Sabre out to catch the Reborns' torso, which also shifted its blade to a low thrust aimed at the 00 Raiser.

Setsuna shifted his gundam's wrist to catch the red beam rapidly chasing him, attempting to push it out of position. Succeeding, he got hit in the face by a massive foot as the opposing gundam used its manoeuvrability to change its altitude and swing a leg out. Catching himself, Setsuna twisted his gundam around and fired his GN Rifle at the face of Ribbons who had attempted to follow up on his advantage. The beam flew through finally, as it hit the gundam's chest dead on, critically wounding it. Ribbons panicked at the damage and blindly swung his blade at Setsuna's last location, the beam cutting through the rest of the O-Raiser's left wing, causing a sudden instability in the 00 Raiser's GN System and a catastrophic shutdown.

_**Location: Ptolemaios II Main Deck**_

_**Time: 55 mins after initiation of battle**_

"SETSUNA!" Feldt screamed, eyes wide at the screen as they watched Ribbons' sparking gundam halt in front of the immobile 00.

"IAN! Prepare the Exia!" Sumeragi shouted at the com, shaking Ian out of his stupor. He nodded quickly and turned to prep the Exia. She looked at the sight of one of the 00's GN Drives being taken by Ribbons, a worm twisting in her heart. "_Setsuna, just a little longer. They'll be there soon."_

_**Location: Ptolemaios II Main Deck**_

_**Time: 56 mins after initiation of battle**_

"Hmph, finally after all these years the Original GN Drive is mine!" Ribbons crowed. This battle against a pure Innovator was a tale worthy of retelling, it cemented his notion that even when they evolve, humans are still beset with the same weaknesses as when they were normal beasts.

Setsuna stared blankly at the image of the GN Drive being held by the Innovade. His visual sensors were one of the systems still running with the power of the remaining GN Drive he had.

"_Is this the extent of my resolve?" _

The image of the gundam staring down at him, just like that day so many years ago. The GN Drive held securely in its handless arm.

"_Is this my fate? To be staring up at him?"_

The gundam now slowly raised its Buster Rifle, aiming it at the 00's cockpit. His hands tightened around the control sticks.

"_No."_

His eyes narrowed. His grip upon the sticks became tighter.

"_This will not be the end. I will not sit here like a lamb for slaughter… "_

He felt his mind go faster, the quantum brainwaves in his mind responding to his state. He remembered the KPSA and their sacrifices. He remembered Tieria Erde, Neil Dylandy, Lichty, and all the other souls who perished. He remembered Marina Ismail. He remembered Feldt Grace.

"_I…a_m_…_GUNDAM!_" _

His eyes flashed gold.

Suddenly a beam of pink light speared down from above, hitting the arm holding the GN Drive protectively and destroying it.

"NOOO!" Ribbons shouted, instantly discarding his Rifle to clutch at the floating GN Drive and holding it in his chest. He looked upwards and saw the Cherudim speeding down at him, one arm missing and one leg ending just below the knee joint. His eyes narrowed and he began to retreat.

Setsuna's com suddenly blared to life, startling the Krugis pilot.

"SETSUNA!" Lockon shouted, continuing to fire shots from his GN Pistol at the battered Ribbons. "Sumeragi has a present for you." He finished, a smile evident from his voice. Setsuna's lips turned up slightly at that.

"Roger. Be careful Lockon." He responded, watching as Ribbons was forced away without a means to fight back, being pestered by a persistent Lockon.

Presently a spark caught Setsuna's eye. He looked at it and saw the welcome sight of the Exia in all its glory rushing towards him.

_**Location: Veda Home Base**_

_**Time: 1 hour, 6 mins after initiation of battle**_

Ribbons' flight had taken him all the way back to the location of Veda. The husks of the masses of suicide bombers that had attempted to bring down the Ptolemaios still littering the battlefield alongside various A-LAWS and Kataron mobile suits. He desperately looked for a way out before having to dodge yet another shot from the Cherudim. Incensed, he shouted at the Gundam Meister.

"Why won't you leave me alone you insect?" He had to dodge yet another set of shots, this time some of them scored hits on his gundam and destroying his lower left leg. "DAMN IT!"

A video screen opened with the face of the pilot of the Cherudim smirking at him. "What, does God not like my actions now?" He said sarcastically. "Well, since I'm going to hell anyway, might as well snipe God from his pedestal!"

Ribbons roared in frustration and moved further into the shadow of the moon base, where a sudden glint of blue caught his eye. He surreptitiously looked at it and realized what it was: The 0 Gundam. An idea then was born in his mind.

He gently flung the GN Drive towards the direction where the 0 Gundam was and quickly drew one of his beam sabres, charging upon a surprised Lockon.

"Shit! " Lockon swore as he barely dodged the gleaming blade. Ribbons quickly recovered and swung his blade once again down Lockon, who barely survived by using his Pistol as a shield. They stood there for a moment, then Ribbons twisted his torso and brought his leg smashing through the Cherudim, disengaging Lockon. He followed that up by throwing his beam sabre straight at Lockon, drawing his remaining sabre and charging after him.

Lockon barely managed to bat the thrown sabre away from him using the Pistol and was unable to react fast enough to the Reborns' sudden charge at him. Ribbons sunk the glowing blade to the right of the Cherudim's cockpit, barely missing Lockon in his haste to finish the fight quickly. Lockon screamed in pain as some more of the Cherudim's systems overloaded and exploded around him.

Lockon panted heavily as the Cherudim started slowly shutting down around him, "… is this the end?" All his systems were becoming dead, the cockpit started flashing red as the gundam's core became critical. "Damn it." He said, one hand coming up to hold the cut above his eye, just barely missing his eyelid. A piece of metal had punctured his body, with large amounts of blood beginning to seep out.

Ribbons' face appeared in the video screen, his face showing a malicious smirk. "Well Lockon Stratos? It appears that even the destroyer of Memento Mori cannot snipe God from his place in destiny!" He stated triumphantly. He pulled out the sabre that was lodged in the Cherudim and swung it up high. Judge. Jury. Executioner. "As God, I hereby sentence you… to death!" He declared as he swung his sword down.

Lockon, facing down death in the face, finally closed his eyes. He muttered, "I'll snipe you… from hell."

"TRANS-ARM!"

A streak of red passed through just as the blade was reaching the Cherudim's core, taking the ruined gundam with him and causing Ribbons to growl in rage. He snapped his suit around, but the Arios ignored him and used the last of its trans-arm to put as much distance between the two as possible.

"Hmph." Ribbons said in disgust, turning around and quickly catching the slowly rotating GN Drive enar the 0 Gundam. Beginning to remove the large GN Pack connected to the intact suit, he muttered, "Humans are such sentimental creatures."

_**Location: Debris field orbiting the moon**_

_**Time: 1 hour, 16 mins after initiation of battle**_

"Lockon! Can you hear me?! If you can say or do something! LOCKON!" Allelujah screamed into the com, fearing the worst. His gundam wasn't in the best shape as well. Arios had burn marks everywhere and part of its right wing was missing, as well as its right foot. All that was nothing before the state of the Cherudim though. Allelujah feared that he was too late.

"LOCKON! ANSWER ME! DON'T TELL ME YOU ALSO DIED DAMMIT!"

No answer. This isn't happening. No. Not again. They already lost Lockon once, this can't be true. Tears started pooling in his eyes.

"LOCKOOOOOOOON!"

"Lockon! Lockon! Lockon! Lockon! Lockon!" A mechanical voice suddenly sounded out. Allelujah paused in shock.

"Haro?" He said. Almost daring to hope. He hoped that Lockon was merely unconscious, not…

"Lockon! Lockon! Lockon! Lockon! Lockon!" That terrible dirge continued unabated.

He didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

_**Location: Veda Base**_

_**Time: 1 hour, 20 mins after initiation of battle**_

He finally finished docking the 0 Gundam's GN Drive into its original machine. He looked at all the screens in the antiquated gundam and saw that everything was functioning normally. _"Such a marvel, this infinite power source…"_ He mused to himself. This power source, once reverse engineered, will allow them, _him_, to control the world and make it accede to his demands. _"Then we, the Innovades, will lead humanity to the next glorious era!" _He smirked in satisfaction.

A sudden beeping in the cockpit of the 0 Gundam, he turned immediately at the sound and felt a moment of shock when he saw what was barrelling down upon him.

Its massive gleaming sword already extended in a high arc, impassive green eyes seeming to give off a feeling or wrath, the Exia smashed down upon the still shocked 0 Gundam and almost bisected it head to toe if it weren't for Ribbons dodging the slash at the last second and drawing his own blade to strike out a counter. Setsuna's blade crashed into space as Ribbons dodged and he was forced to twist the Exia away as the counter neared him. Landing in opposite stages of one of the docking bays for the Veda moon base, both pilots stared at each other.

"Hmph, so you managed to get yourself the Exia, Setsuna F. Seiei" Ribbons said. The Exia looked different. It lacked the exposed purple cables that gave it so much mobility before, and the GN Sword had a green lining to it now. Besides that the back of the suit contained a GN Drive. _"Is that a new GN Drive? Or maybe he managed to take it off the 00 Raiser's dock…"_

Setsuna was furious. He had felt the brainwaves of Allelujah in anguish and denial. That meant that Lockon was…. No, that's not true. Regardless, there's no more time left, he had to finish this here and now.

Setsuna drew his GN Sword Kai once more and pointed it straight at Ribbons. Ribbons noticed his challenge and smirked in response, throwing away his shield and holding his beam sabre in both hands. The Exia's GN Drive unlocked a cone of highly condensed GN Particles spewed out of it, filling the already oversaturated space.

They charged.

"_Lockon…"_ Setsuna thought. "_I have changed._" His eyes once again glowed golden, the abilities of a true Innovator sparking a chain reaction with the innumerable GN particles in space.

Closer and closer to the end of the game. At the point of contact time slowed down. The Exia shifted to the right side, evading the glowing sabre of the 0 Gundam by mere inches. Ribbons attempted to recover and slash again but it was too late. The massive Kai sword slowly pierced the core of the 0 Gundam in a slashing motion, the blade cutting through the cockpit and exiting through the bisected sections of the GN Drive. Setsuna followed through that attack, firing his thrusters to spin around once again, stabbing his sword through the cockpit.

He disengaged his Burst mode, the GN Drive cycling down and locking once more. "_It's finally over._" He thought, closing his eyes in exhaustion.

A sudden beeping alerted him, he looked at the screens and noticed the 0 Gundam's GN Drive beginning to heat up. _"The safeguard!"_ He realized. Too late.

The GN Drive of the 0 Gundam exploded. The released, unrefined GN Particles reacted to the already unstable system created from constant exposure to fake and true GN Particles as well as the specially condensed particles from both Burst mode and the 00 Raiser. This final ingredient to the unstable concoction triggered a primitive version of what the 00 Qan[T] would be capable of.

The world around Setsuna flashed green for a moment. When the flash of green had faded, only the ruined remains of the 0 Gundam were left.

_**Location: Unknown**_

_**Time: 1 hour, 25 mins after initiation of battle**_

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ALRIGHTY!

Now, please review or pm me if you have any concerns about the story and/or continuity issues or technical issues with the work. I'll try my best to accommodate everyone but you can't reallllllyyy give a completely solid explanation for the shizz that happens sometimes yeah?

That said this here is my baby so I'll be taking her to whichever way my twisted mind's gonna go! I will be taking suggestions and/or criticisms to improve my writing style so feel free to mash those keyboards! (Yes I think I ate too much sugar again )

**To everyone else who read, reviewed, alerted, favorited me or my work** – THANK YOU ALL XD

Cheers,

Creleuth


	2. Awaken, Thy Name is GUNDAM

Chapter 2:

**Awaken, Thy Name is GUNDAM**

_**A spark of power,**_

_**Echoing through the starlight.**_

_**The sound of conflict,**_

_**Draws upon the Shadow Knight.**_

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"_Thoughts"_

"Speech"

_**Author's helpful little notes and stuff**_

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_**Previously on SEED: Eternity:**_

_The world around Setsuna flashed green for a moment. When the flash of green had faded, only the ruined remains of the 0 Gundam were left._

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_**Location: Heliopolis Colony**_

_**Time: January 25**__**th**__**, C.E. 71**_

"I'm telling you Kira, the professor's giving you too much work for one guy!" Tolle Koenig said jokingly to Kira as they entered Professor Kato's office with Miriallia Haw. Kira Yamato was a brown-haired teenager with violet eyes and a fairly average height and build. He was currently 15 years old and one of Professor Kato's brightest students. He had a green and yellow mechanical bird called 'Birdy,' which was given to him by his childhood friend Athrun Zala. He was secretly a Coordinator.

The hum of computers and other electronic hardware running was evident. Sai Argyle and Kuzzer Buskirk were busy typing in their respective terminals. Everything seemed to be set to be another ordinary day, except for a couple of details.

Two strangers were also present in the room. One person was a guy with blonde hair and a shadowed face leaning on a wall away from the door. He was wearing a brown overcoat and a flat cap concealing his features. He looked at the three of them when they entered by looked away immediately, seemingly anxiously waiting for something. The other person also leaning on the wall of the door to Professor Kato's office was equally, if not more, mysterious. He seemed to be a Middle Eastern man in his early twenties with black wavy hair and a pair of black shades on his eyes. He was wearing a long-sleeved dark blue jacket, a white buttoned shirt untucked, black pants and casual shoes. A red scarf wrapped around his neck completed the bewildering ensemble. He had looked up as the door had opened but did not look back down, seeming to keep staring at them.

Sai looked around his computer and noticed Kira and the others. "Hey Kira! Glad you could come!"

Tolle went up to said and whispered, "Who are those guys?"

"They're waiting to speak with the Professor, apparently they've been told to wait here." Sai shrugged. The group of teenagers proceeded to have small talk while doing their work, seemingly ignoring the two strangers. After a few minutes of not being noticed the man near the door tried to open it but couldn't because it was locked. He gave a sigh that was unnoticed except by the blonde teenager who was alternating between watching him and the group of teenagers fooling around.

All of a sudden they all felt a great shaking of the colony like an earthquake. It suddenly stopped and automated communications systems went online and began blaring a pre-recorded message, "Attention all citizens, please calmly proceed to the emergency shelters nearest you. A map of-" Another, stronger wave of shaking rumbled the complex they were in, cutting off the communications system and off balancing a lot of them in the room. The lights flickered slightly and then went out, with emergency lights kicking in at the sudden loss of power.

"W-what's happened?" Miriallia said in fear as she clutched at Tolle. Kira looked around and noticed that no one was harmed in the latest quake. Everyone's faces reflected his he idly noticed, fear and confusion was evident in all of them.

"No idea. At any rate, we should go now." Kira said to everyone. They immediately went out and into the emergency staircase, with the two strangers bringing up the rear. The general talk amongst the other people in the staircase was that ZAFT had attacked their colony, violating the treaty with Orb.

"Why would ZAFT attack us? We're a neutral colony!"

"I don't know, do you think it has to do with the Alliance?"

"Nonsense! Lord Uzumi would never let the Alliance drab Orb into the conflict!"

All around them the shaking continued to happen sporadically. Kira and the others were becoming increasingly more worried about the situation, not noticing that the strangers behind them were restlessly fidgeting.

Suddenly the blonde teenager turned around and walked down the corridor towards a balcony. The Middle-Eastern man had noticed this and turned to follow him, a shout of warning in his lips.

"Hey!"

Kira and the others noticed this, with Kira moving to follow the black-haired man.

"No wait you two!"

Tolle shouted after him, "Kira! Where are you going?"

Kira had looked back and responded, his feet already carrying him to the two strangers who were beginning to argue, "I'll be fine, and I'll see you guys later!" A sudden earthquake then shuddered through the corridor and caused a blockade, preventing them from returning. Kira stared blankly at the corridor which a second ago had the face of Tolle, shaking his head in consternation, he went nearer the two strangers.

Meanwhile the two were still arguing.

"Miss, it's not a good idea to go out alone-" The black-haired man started again after observing the blockage behind them. His tone seemed to be urgent as well as exasperated at the blonde.

"_Wait what? He called the blonde person 'miss?'__**"**_Kira thought in confusion. He then reached the two and noticed that he was actually right, the gust of dust from the collapse had blown away the blonde's cap and showed that the person underneath was actually a girl. An increasingly agitated girl it seems.

"I'm perfectly fine! Look, I know my way around this place. You two should never have come with me." She said, sporting a ratter annoyed look in her face. In contrast the man was calm and collected, cold even. He didn't seem perturbed by the circumstances that happened recently.

Kira decided to speak before something worse happened, "Umm, I think this isn't the best time to be arguing? We have to get to shelter as soon as possible." At that the two strangers looked at him in surprise before the man nodded decisively and turned towards the only exit they had. Kira and the girl looked at in confusion at his sudden departure, but were forced to follow him after another earthquake had nearly thrown them to the ground.

They emerged into a scene of devastation. There were large fires everywhere, wreckage and debris were scattered and the bodies of the dead were strewn about the roads carelessly. The smell of burning plastic and metal was in the air, cloying and invasive. Kira could feel unnatural heat from the wash of the thrusters of mobile suits cling to him like a second skin. He heard distant explosions and shouting from below them, as well as the deep booms of the GINN guns and the whine from the turbines. Below them he noticed people firing guns at each other, men in blue and orange uniforms against people in green and red suits. All that was nothing however, to the large open-topped trucks being fought over that had strange mobile suits in them.

The mobile suit closer to them had grey-coloured metal and an oddly shaped head. It seemed to be emulating what a human head with a helmet looked like, complete with eyes and all. It was currently bound in restraints that helped it not to move in transit. In as few words as possible, the mobile suit looked elegant.

Kira did not notice that the man had stiffened when he saw the suits and was now staring at them in horrified fascination. What he did notice was the girl suddenly dropping down on her legs and staring at the suits in anguish.

"No…father, how could you…?" She said softly, her eyes closing in denial. Beside her the man was still frozen in shock, his hands which were holding the railings clenched so hard the knuckles were white.

"G-Gundams… impossible…" The man muttered quietly.

The girl was still in denial, her voice slowly gaining volume, "father…HOW COULD YOU?" She shouted suddenly, gaining the attention of the fighters below. One of them swung her gun at the three of them and fired reflexively. The man had noticed and quickly pulled the other two down with him out of the field of fire. They then began moving to the nearest shelter that was across from them. When they reached it they found out that there was only room for one more. In unspoken agreement Kira and the man pushed the girl into the shelter and closed it despite her protests, now they were left outside with nowhere to go.

Kira looked at the stranger, the stranger still seemed to be calm and unruffled about all that happened, only slightly clenched hands the indication of his reaction to the events. For his part Kira was in equal parts terrified and confused. What was happening? Why was ZAFT here and why were they attacking?

A hand on his shoulder jolted him from his thoughts and he looked up to see that the stranger was looking straight at him.

"Do not think about the hows and whys for now. First, live, then you can ask those questions." The stranger said.

"How can you be so calm? When our home's falling apart around us?" Kira said to him, incredulity evident at his tone. He didn't think that anyone he knew was this calm.

"Again, first concentrate on staying alive. When all this is over can you ask those questions." The stranger declared, a strangely compelling tone in his voice. Accepting that that was the most he would get for now, Kira nodded tersely.

They started back to the other side of the building where more shelters were, however another earthquake happened and caused some of the damage structure on the building to fall down. Kira was pushed roughly by the man forwards while he propelled himself backwards, evading the sudden avalanche of concrete.

"Argh!" Kira shouted as he tumbled to the ground, slightly skinning his elbow. Recovering quickly he scrambled up and looked back at the now blocked passage. He could still see a little bit, enough to see the man's shades looking back at him. He swore he could see a little hint of gold behind the dark lenses.

"Are you alright?" The man asked. He seemed to have not had any serious injuries so Kira nodded back. The stranger then nodded back to him, "Good luck, and get to the shelters. I'll find a different way around." At that Kira opened his mouth to protest but yet another shaking dislodged the pile in front of him and hid the stranger from view. Seeing nothing else he could do for the man who saved him, Kira began to move.

Turning around, Kira felt troubled. He knew that the shelters in that side were already full, that stranger knew that as well. That meant he would try to go through the middle of the fighting. Kira wished him luck in his mind.

* * *

_**Location: Heliopolis Colony, city outskirts**_

_**Time: 40 mins after ZAFT attack**_

Setsuna was conflicted.

It has been a year since he had arrived to this alternate timeline. The changes to his original timeline were immense. These Coordinators and Naturals, the lack of the Solar Elevators, indeed the lack of any Aeolia Schenberg in any meaningful field cementing that observation. He didn't know how to get back, indeed he questioned whether he _could_ get back. In the absence of a clear way to establish contact or return to Celestial Being, he resolved to continue his mission as a Gundam Meister.

When he had arrived he was fortunate that there were no ships around to notice the disturbance. He had been exhausted from the fight with Ribbons and had passed out almost immediately after arriving. When he had woken up he managed to sneak his Gundam into a space colony and hide it in an unobservable place. Thankfully the optical camouflage system the Exia had was still fully functional. He had spent the majority of the time since getting acquainted with this new universe and whatever disruptive groups there were as part of his purview as a Meister.

Now it seems a need for the Gundam had been found. The Bloody Valentine war had been raging on for a few years, with atrocities committed on each side. Setsuna was hesitant to conclude that the PLANTS were entirely blameless in the affair of war since then but it was unmistakable to him that the Earth Alliance was the primary aggressor in the war. Regardless, as a Meister he was to not take any sides in conflict, only to take the most efficient course of action that will guarantee the eradication of war and the distortions that cause it.

That ZAFT had attacked a colony of a neutral nation without provocation was a clear act of malicious intent, Setsuna had been planning to sortie the Exia when he had stumbled upon the prototype gundams in the hangars. If Orb had been developing such suits in secret then ZAFT had the right to stop such machines from being put into action in order to prevent the escalation of the conflict. However Setsuna knew that he didn't have all the information necessary to declare that either one or the other had caused an escalation of war.

That led to his decision now. Despite his mission as a Meister, the act of involving innocent civilians in armed conflict struck a chord in Setsuna. He was going to sortie the Exia regardless of who was in the right. After all, while politicians talked the people died on the ground.

He ran up to the winch ladder of the Exia's cockpit and activated it. Taking out an earpiece from his pocket he adjusted it to his ear and began pre-combat preparations.

"GN System Repose. Priority: Setsuna F. Seiei."

He reached the cockpit and pulled himself into the seat, the biometric scanning him and confirming him to be the authorized Meister. He checked all the booting systems of Exia, all green.

"Remove Optical Camouflage."

A shimmering was evident in the air, and suddenly the side of the mountain was taken up by the towering bulk of the GN-001REII Exia. The GN Drive started up and began spewing GN Particles at an acceptable rate. Constant maintenance on his Gundam, courtesy of the basic engineering skills from his time in Celestial Being, was a lifesaver to the isolated Meister.

"Setsuna F. Seiei, Exia, launching."

With a blast of wind, the Exia flew once more.

* * *

_**Location: Heliopolis Colony, site of attack**_

_**Time: 1 hour, 20 mins after ZAFT attack**_

Kira was not having the best day of his life.

First there had been the attack on the colony by ZAFT. Then he saw his childhood friend Athrun Zala fighting for ZAFT and had been about to kill a woman in cold blood. After that he had to pilot a mobile suit with said woman, who turned out to be an Alliance Officer named Lieutenant Murrue Ramius. Said officer then detained Kira and his reunited friends at gunpoint and ordered them around while Kira was to stay in the suit. Said suit then was the target of a special ZAFT mobile suit, luckily he had managed to activate Phase Shift at the final moments and repelled the bullets. Then of course a massive legged ship had blasted its way out of _their _colony's underground and proceed to give Kira the shock of his life.

All this probably shaved off a decade from his lifespan.

Now however the rest of the GINNS had re-entered the colony along with another gundam like his, this one had red armour on it and looked like the suit Athrun had used to get out of the colony. Kira had to keep dodging the GINN with the heavy equipment load out, as it seemed to focus solely on him. Equipping the so-called Sword Striker pack was a good decision in hindsight, the added mobility enabling him to dodge the relatively slow missiles from the suit. The missiles proceeded to detonate on the colony itself, damaging it even more as weapons suited for storming fortified positions were used on a defenceless colony.

"Argh!" He said to himself as he barely twisted the GAT-X105 Strike from the latest missile barrage from the GINN. Again the video feed in his cockpit opened up and the face of Athrun once again filled the feed.

"Kira!" Athrun yelled. It turns out that his childhood friend really did join ZAFT. Athrun asked him to join him at ZAFT as a member of his team. Kira had to refuse as he remembered Tolle and the others with the Alliance.

"I can't join you Athrun!" Kira responded, taking out the beam boomerang stored in his shoulder pack. He threw it hard at the GINN while dodging another missile that exploded and took out a small park below him.

Mu la Flaga was having problems of his own trying to take down the CGUE. He kept missing his shots and hitting the colony's structural foundations instead. The absurd luck of hitting those pipes again and again had struck Mu as something out of a TV show, but he was in real life dammit! He cursed once more that the CGUE had managed to take down two of his gunbarrels earlier. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the civilian piloting the Strike throw its boomerang at the GINN facing it and miss, only for the boomerang to return and clip the GINN in the leg. The Strike then followed it up by using the massive sword that particular pack had and bisecting the GINN into two. Inside his head a suspicion began to form.

Athrun's world seemed to go stop as he watched Kira slice through Miguel's GINN. "MIGUEL!" He seemed to shout, yet he couldn't hear his own voice. Miguel was one of his team, he graduated alongside Athrun and Yzak and the others from the academy. They weren't as close as best friends due to the difference in rank, but all the same it felt like a spike of ice had rammed his heart.

Unfortunately Kira's killing of the GINN pilot froze him for a moment, allowing the two surviving GINNs to get past them. One fired its Canus Launcher at the Archangel, hitting it and doing superficial damage to the hull, yet jostling the ship enough that the few shots fired at the other GINN were wildly inaccurate. The advancing GINN flew up to the Archangel's bridge and readied its gun to fire.

Time seemed to slow down for all the combatants in the field as they noticed the GINN about to kill the last of the Archangel's bridge crew. Kira and Mu turned their suit and armour respectively to try and intercept the GINN but were too slow. Murrue didn't close her eyes, even as she stared death down in the face. If she was going to die, then she was going to die with dignity. Beside her Natarle Badgiruel stiffened at attention, her steely eyes staring down the barrel of the massive gun in defiance. The GINN's finger slowly pulled at the trigger, mere milliseconds away from firing.

A bright pink beam suddenly cut through the GINN's 76mm rifle and destroyed it utterly, shocking all participants. At the same time an alarm sounded on the bridge as an unidentified source was distorting their scans.

"What was that?" Murrue immediately demanded from the bridge. Even though they were just saved from the brink of death she would have to deal with that later. Right now the primary concern was the unidentified source up above them that was approaching at high speeds.

"Putting it up on visual now! What…" One of the crew uttered in amazement as the image of the unknown was show on screen.

It was similar to the G-Weapons in how it looked, with a blue and white colour scheme. It didn't seem to have a visible thruster system but instead a large cone behind it with a strange engine that emitted green light. It had a massive sword lined with green coating tucked into its right arm with a small shield over it. A small gun held in its right hand that was pointed at the GINNs who was looking at it in shock. Besides the overly large sword and gun it didn't seem to have any other weapons on it.

A video feed suddenly opened up in the main screen of the Archangel. Murrue was shocked when she saw the person. It was the same Middle-Eastern man that she had seen and fired upon before. He seemed to be the one piloting the suit that was in front of them. He had removed his shades and so she could see that his eyes were brownish chestnut with flecks of gold. A calm and collected demeanour was emanating from him and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Identify yourself." The statement was curt and commanding. Despite his apparent civilian status he held himself like a soldier, most likely a high-ranking one if the mobile suit was anything to go by. _**"**__Maybe this suit was a G-Weapon project developed in secret even from the Archangel?__**"**_

"This is Lieutenant Murrue Ramius of the Archangel. Identify yourself as well." She stated. She was not expecting the pilot's response though. He immediately shut off the feed.

When the feed had died numerous questions began to be fired by the personnel on the bridge.

"Was there another G-Weapon we weren't informed of?"

"Who was that pilot?"

"Maybe he's a coordinator trying to get into our good graces to finish us off!"

"SILENCE! We will deal with this once this crisis is over!" Murrue shouted above the din, reasserting her authority. Whether or not this new player was an ally or enemy wasn't resolved yet, she'll have to make a decision about that soon.

-000-

"The ZAFT strike force had been judged to be performing in a capacity that distorts this world. Setsuna F. Seiei, eliminating the targets." Setsuna declared to himself, the Gundam Exia responding to his call.

Keeping up his momentum, he aimed his Gundam towards the closer of the GINNs, the cumbersome suit unable to react in time to the Exia. He drew the Kai and pointed it in front of him in a lancing thrust. The GINN tried to evade but it was too late. The GN Sword pierced through the armour of the suit like knife through butter, the momentum of the Gundam arrested by the now ruined body of the GINN. Pulling his Sword out, he noticed the other GINN aiming its 76mm assault rifle at him and firing. Not even bothering to take cover, the Exia simply stood up under the hale of fire and emerged unscathed. He then boosted his thrusters and charged at the other GINN, the Kai gleaming in anticipation.

Idly he reflected on the differences in mobile suit technology between his universe and this one. For one the mobile suits here seemed to be more of the HRL's vein of suit technology. They were slow, snail-like compared to the Flags and Enacts of the Union and AEU. Their weapons seemed designed more to combat conventional weapons rather than towards anti-suit combat. Understandable in that only the Coordinators here had the skill to pilot mobile suits.

As he easily cut through the cockpit of the other GINN, he compared this battle to be the same as the initial interventions against the divided states of the world when Celestial Being was just beginning its campaign. They were severely outmatched even by the primitive Gundams that he had seen. It was pitiful.

As Setsuna decimated the two GINNs that was giving them so much trouble before, Mu wondered at the skills of the pilot. Certainly this one had military experience, it showed in his fighting style. _"Dammit, how many of these things did the Alliance make?"_ Kira for his part was equally awed and horrified at the callousness of the new pilot. The ability to kill without seemingly feeling remorse for his actions was a phenomenon that Kira never experienced, nor would ever like to.

After finishing off the last GINN Setsuna focused his attention to the final ZAFT mobile suit, the CGUE. Rau had to veer away from finishing off the badly damaged Moebius Zero when a lance of pink light cut through his vision. Turning his high-manoeuvrability suit into gear he spotted a leftover Cattus Rifle from Miguel's GINN on the ground. An idea began to form in his mind as he dodged and swerved away from the pink lances of light the unknown mobile suit was firing at him as he closed the distance to the intact weapon. Setsuna realized the plan of the enemy suit and began accelerating the Exia towards the Rifle as well.

Twisting his suit beyond normal stress levels, Rau cursed slightly as the enemy suit neared, "_That guy flies like a Coordinator!_" A shock of light through his consciousness alerted him to a lance of light that was about to corner him into being hit, and he fired his thrusters in order to twist away from the beam of death mere meters away.

Setsuna felt a flash of surprise when the mobile suit managed to pass through the net that he created. _"He shouldn't have been able to spot that pattern in time…"_ he narrowed his eyes, "_Are there similar people to me here? But GN particles haven't even been discovered yet by the nations of the world._"

Rau and Setsuna then clashed in a gust of wind. Setsuna had drawn his Kai sword and thrust at the CGUE, which had felt the incoming attack and attempted to strafe away. Unfortunately for Rau the CGUE was too slow to react to his instincts and the Kai managed to cut through the left wing of the CGUE. Crashing to the ground in a shower of dust, Rau managed to grasp the grip of the Cattus and bring it with him as he pushed the thrusters to move. Setsuna recovered quickly and dashed through the haze, Kai sword drawn back in preparation for a slashing blow.

The dust parted to reveal the CGUE braced in a crouched position holding the Cattus Rifle, aiming straight at the Exia. Reacting quickly, Setsuna pulled at the controls of the Exia and managed to push it into a quick slide, crashing through abandoned cars and streetlights as the CGUE fired the Cattus. The shot flew straight into the Exia's shield and to the shock of all watching, the 500mm Armour Piercing round failed to penetrate the Celestial Being Gundam-class E-Carbon. Manoeuvring quickly, Exia drew one of its beam sabres and threw it at the CGUE, forcing Rau to clumsily dodge to the side as the pink blade cut through the rest of his left wing.

"DAMMIT!" Rau yelled out in frustration as the CGUE's thruster system lost one of its main thrusters. Fortunately he was saved when the colony began to break apart from the stress of combat and the damage to its structure, forcing the conclusion of the battle. The Exia, the CGUE and the Strike were blown out of the colony with the strong winds and were separated from the Archangel for a time.

"_That mobile suit was exceedingly advanced, the pilot moves like a Coordinator as well. There's no going two ways about it, the mission is more complicated than I had planned for._" Rau thought. Turning around, he began to limp his way back to the Vesalius to debrief and prepare his team for the new mission parameters.

Setsuna, having no other way of moving to another colony without support, decided to board the Archangel and take advantage of the wrong assumptions the Alliance team was making. The quantum brainwaves that he had begun experiencing had developed enough that he could discern fragments of thoughts if he focused. This enabled him to hear enough of the crew's general attitude towards him that he could masquerade as one of their men until he had to move onwards. Spotting the Archangel moving out of the ruins of Heliopolis, he pointed the Exia towards them and prepared himself for contact. He couldn't shake the thought that he was violating his code as a Meister with his recent actions however.

Kira Yamato on the other hand, had found a lifepod and proceeded to bring it with him, the guilt over killing someone driving him to try to find something to occupy and be happy with himself with. He knew that he was not cut out for war, but if it meant protecting his friends from danger, then he would gladly use the Strike once more. Taking hold of the lifepod, he began to bring it back to where the Archangel's signal was, the thought of the new mobile suit troubling him.

Overall the battle was a resounding victory for the Le Creuset team, what with capturing four of the five reported G-Weapon suits. Yet it left a bitter taste on the team with the deaths of Rusty and Miguel, as well as the appearance of the sixth G-Weapon that no one had foreseen. This supposed oversight would haunt them in years to come.

_**Location: Remains of Heliopolis**_

_**Time: 30 mins after Destruction of Heliopolis**_

* * *

Special Mentions:

**LancelotQuanta – **Thank you for your show of support! Which characters seem OOC to you? I'm open to suggestions about characterizations because I'll admit I haven't watched SEED for a while now XD. That said, that'll probably be the only first person Setsuna POV in this fanfic, as I'll have to use Third person to accurately cover everything.

**Arthogawa ** – I was actually torn between pushing for the entire Ptolemy crew to be also transferred to the SEED universe but a friend of my who is helping me with the stuff suggested for me to slightly tone down the amount of POVs there are in my story :P. I MIGHT make an alternative work where I'll bring em all into SEED but that'll be in the backburner as I have to gain more writing experience. I will be doing some chapters where I'll push the POV to their perspective so I can capture what's happening to CB without an Inno, and I might have a use for them WAYYY later on in the fic. Thank you for your support and hope you enjoy

**Sajuuk** – Sorry but I already have a set sequence on how things are gonna go for the most part, I'll gladly take any suggestions like reactions to the appearance of GN suits and the like, but the major aspects such as Setsuna's suit or pairings are already final in my mind. That said, this fic sadly presupposes that SEED and 00 are separate and distinct continuities so no other side of the galaxy stuff. I appreciate your support of this fic and I hope that despite not being able to implement your suggestions I am still able to deliver with the premise I have established

**To everyone else who read, reviewed, alerted, favorited me or my work** – THANK YOU ALL XD

Cheers,

Creleuth


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